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Steven Ireland

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My Top 3 Priorities

SAFETY & SECURITY - We need to make sure our kids are safe and secure in their schools. School Counselors and other mental health professionals need to be funded in our budgets - they can serve as a first line of defense against school violence.

SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE - Our schools are falling apart - It's time to make our schools look like the future we want for our kids. We need to find new revenues and fix the problems with our crumbling infrastructure.

STUDENT WELL-BEING - CA has over 200,000 homeless students on any given night - 30,000 of them "without a roof." We need to help our students be ready to learn, addressing issues from hunger to mental health to homelessness. We can do better.

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Source: MapLight analysis of data from the California Secretary of State.

Political Beliefs

Position Papers

Why Steven Ireland for Superintendent?

Summary

A brief summary of why I am running for this office.

Dear California Parents & Voters –

I am announcing my campaign for Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of California.The election is held on June 5th, 2018 on the statewide ballot.

What is the Superintendent?

The Superintendent of Public Instruction is the only elected seat on the California Board of Education.The Governor appoints the other eleven members of the board.This means it is the ONLY opportunity for voters to decide who represents them on their own State Board of Education.

The Board of Education oversees an annual budget of more than $76 Billion dollars and sets the direction for all public schools in California. The Superintendent carries out the board’s wishes and has a LOT of say in how our children are educated.

Why is the Board so Important?

Special interests have poured money into this race because they want to claim that 12th seat as an advantage for their side.But in the ongoing debate about Charter Schools versus Teachers Union, one voice is consistently left out of the discussion – PARENTS!

For too long, special interest money has dictated school policies across our state.This is why our school infrastructure is crumbling, needed positions are not funded and student morale is low.California schools used to be among the highest performing school systems in the country – now we’re desperately trying to raise graduation rates.

What Can Be Done?

Finally, we are seeing students and parents fed up with dysfunctional schools across the country.Students are demanding to be safe in their own schools and they are marching to show the world what they want.Many parents want a greater say in how their schools are run.

That’s why I’m running as the “PARENT” candidate – to give a voice to parents on the CA Board of Education.I believe ALL of our children deserve 3 things from our school system:

· * Safe & Secure Schools

· * A Welcoming and Positive Learning Environment

· * Ability to Be Healthy and Ready to Learn

To accomplish that, I’m focused on these three issues:

SAFETY & SECURITY

Democrats & Republicans agree on almost nothing when it comes to guns and protecting our schools from shootings.But they do agree on one thing – mental health plays an important role in keeping our schools safe.So, both sides agree but what do they do?They CUT funding for school counselors and mental health professionals in our schools.

It’s time that PARENTS DEMAND FUNDING for these positions as a first line of defense against school violence. We also need to develop a set of “best practices” for our schools to follow that help ensure the safety of our kids.

SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE

It’s been said that “if a school looks like a prison the students are more likely to go to prison but if a school looks like a college they are more likely to go to college.”Many of our schools are falling apart with sinks hanging off the wall, unsafe drinking water and peeling paint (our local elementary school had peeling lead paint – more about that later).We need to make our schools LOOK LIKE THE FUTURE we want for our kids.

STUDENT WELL-BEING

It is estimated that California has over 202,000 homeless students on any given day – 15% of them are considered “without a roof” which means they are literally sleeping on the streets.Think about that – 30,000 plus students sleeping on the street before going to school.Thousands more living in cars, relative’s homes or motels.

If a student spends the night on the street, he or she likely will show up at school unwashed, hungry and not ready to learn.This affects not only the homeless student personally but also other kids in class.He or she may have behavioral problems as a result of their home life, resulting in more teacher time spent away from the rest of the class.Graduation rates may be impacted by continued distractions.

Funding is not the issue! Enormous resources have been directed at the homeless in the last few years, but in the Los Angeles Unified School District alone, the rate of homeless students went up almost 40% in the last two years, from 12,000 per night to 17,000.By helping the most vulnerable students in our state, we lift up all students.

SHARE & DONATE

Of course, there are many other issues facing our schools.These are just a few of our challenges but addressing them will make our students safer and happier so they can focus on getting a good education.

If you’ve read this far, I hope you’ll SHARE THIS MESSAGE across your social media to any CONCERNED PARENTS and interested citizens.

Steven Ireland Responses to USC Rossier School Questions

1.Ella T. v State of California is a lawsuit brought by public school students, former teachers, and community organizations that challenges the state's failure to provide access to literacy for all students as unconstitutional under the state constitution. What is your position on the lawsuit?

The Ella T v. State of CA lawsuit tells us what we already knew – that we are failing to provide basic instruction to a large segment of California’s children.Failure to achieve basic literacy skills in elementary school leads to many of the issues we see in our high schools, including high dropout rates and low graduation rates.

We need to focus our resources on these low-performing elementary students to give them the tools they need to succeed in later grades.This means ensuring that all schools receive their fair share of school funding to create a safe and welcoming atmosphere in which children can learn.

A program in Ontario, Canada focuses on English learners with great success.Within three years of arriving in public schools, children of new immigrants perform as well as native born-children on proficiency tests.They achieve this with intensive English literacy classes in the morning while integrating the students into regular classes later in the day.Their English teacher is available to help them during regular classes in the event they need further assistance.We must consider implementing a similar system if we expect to fix this problem.

The Board of Education needs to create partnerships with community organizations such as the plaintiffs in this case and encourage parents to be pro-active in their children’s literacy development.Only by working together can we address this extremely important issue.It’s time to invest in our children’s future for the sake of California.

2.Secretary DeVos has indicated that she will get rid of the Obama era guidance on disproportionate use of school discipline. What will you do as superintendent to protect the civil rights of all students?

Effective discipline in schools involves a delicate balancing act between addressing disruptive behaviors in the classroom and ensuring that students are treated fairly and equally.

Teachers and administrators must be able to remove a student who is being physically or verbally disruptive without fear of punishment in order to maintain a proper learning environment for all students.At the same time, we need to make sure students are not being targeted unfairly due to their race, religion, orientation or other factors not related to the disruptive behaviors.

The Board should develop a clear set of policies outlining what type of discipline is permitted and when.Local Boards must ensure that their school systems are adhering to that policy in order to maintain a fair discipline policy throughout the state.The State needs to effectively monitor how discipline is administered, and there needs to be a fair and simple reporting procedure for parents to report complaints about the discipline procedures at their school.

Some disruptive behaviors are due to factors in the student’s home life from outside the classroom.These range from mental health issues to hunger to homelessness and they can adversely affect the education of all of our students.

3.In light of the Trump admin's recommendations/proposals to cut Title II funding, how might you envision ensuring educators-especially new teachers-are supported in California in their first years?

If anything is clear it is that we cannot wait for the dysfunctional Washington, DC educational establishment to solve our problems.We need to address critical funding throughout the school system - including finding new revenues to support our schools and teachers.According to EdWeek’s 2017 Quality Counts survey, California ranks 46th in the nation in per pupil funding and it shows.

Our schools are falling apart, teachers are buying their own supplies and critical positions and programs have been cut.School counselors and nurses are a rarity at many schools.Music and arts programs have been cut throughout the system, even though studies have repeatedly shown that music programs IMPROVE MATH SCORES.

Democrats & Republicans agree on almost nothing when it comes to guns and protecting our schools from shootings.But they do agree on one thing – mental health plays an important role in keeping our schools safe.So, both sides agree but what do they do?They CUT funding for school counselors and mental health professionals in our schools.It’s time that PARENTS DEMAND FUNDING for these positions as a first line of defense against school violence.

We need to look for new revenues for schools, including the lottery, gaming interests and the new cannabis economy money.Bonuses and other rewards should be given to teachers who are willing to work in the most difficult schools in order to ensure a quality education for all kids.We need to plan for the future we want for our children.

4.What are you going to do to incorporate the voice, participation, and leadership from parents in order to close the gap in academic achievement for students of color?

Parents are the reason I’m running for this seat on the CA Board of Education.As a parent of three teenagers, I’ve been through a variety of schools including public schools, affiliated charter schools and independent charter schools.It’s easy to spot the schools that are most successful – they are the schools where the PARENTS are involved.

Finally, we are seeing students and parents fed up with dysfunctional schools across the country.Students are demanding to be safe in their own schools and they are marching to show the world what they want.Many parents want a greater say in how their schools are run.

That’s why I’m running as the “PARENT” candidate – in an effort to give a voice to parents on the State Board of Education.I believe ALL of our children deserve 3 things from our school system:

·Safe & Secure Schools

·A Welcoming and Positive Learning Environment

·Ability to Be Healthy and Ready to Learn

To accomplish that, I’m focused on these three issues:

·Safety & Security

·School Infrastructure

·Student Well-Being

Families are crucial to making schools a place where children want to learn, yet some school administrators prefer that parents “stay out of the way.”That needs to change - parents need to be welcomed as a partner in their schools.In return, ALL parents have a responsibility to speak up and demand a voice in their child’s education.

Our students should know the contributions of all groups to our collective history – including LBGTQ+ - as part of a well-balanced education.Learning about each other fosters a better understanding of our peers and leads to respect for other cultures and ideas as part of our modern world.Stories from the LBGTQ+ community and other groups should be integrated into both history lessons and other areas of study such as music and arts.

ALL students deserve respect and the ability to live a happy and healthy life, including LBGTQ+ students.A frank discussion of sexuality – with input from parents - is a must to keep our children safe and healthy.All children must know that they are valuable and that they are able to discuss their feelings and ask questions without fear.

The law provides flexibility for schools in its implementation, but the Board should outline suggested ways to incorporate these important stories into the daily curriculum.The Board needs to monitor compliance and require non-compliant districts to implement a program according to the law.

6.What efforts will you take to ensure that culturally/critically responsive instruction is the norm, not the exception? How do you plan to expand bilingual education opportunities for students and teachers alike?

Culturally and critically responsive instruction makes sense for schools today.Students learn better when they can relate the lesson they are learning to their own lives.Using stories from a student’s own culture helps promote interest and understanding, which should be the goal of any teacher when presenting a lesson.

No teacher will incorporate cultural references in exactly the same way, but there are numerous strategies to add culturally responsive materials into a lesson plan.Both of my sons attended a middle-school Culinary Academy in LAUSD.Lessons were taught through the lens of food, so Greek history included a look at what the ancient Greeks ate, as well as a trip to local Greek restaurant.This helped bring the ideas of ancient Greece to a modern (and tasty) relevance.

The Canadian program that I mentioned in an earlier question includes culturally responsive instruction as part of their English-learner process.They use foods, holiday traditions and other cultural customs to help the student relate to their new environment and learn English.This helps the student feel more comfortable and helps to promote understanding with other classmates.

7.What makes each of you different from the previous state superintendents? How and why should we trust you?

The Superintendent of Public Instruction is the only elected seat on the California Board of Education.The Governor appoints the other eleven members of the Board.This means it is the ONLY opportunity for voters to decide who represents them on the Board of Education.

It is largely considered a “ceremonial” position, but in fact the Superintendent chairs the Board which oversees an annual budget of more than $76 Billion dollars and sets the direction for all public schools in California.The Superintendent has a lot of say in how our children are educated.